PEOPLExpress to fly from West Palm Beach starting July 14

New air service between West Palm Beach and Virginia could take flight soon.

Start-up PEOPLExpress announced plans recently to add nonstop service between Palm Beach International Airport and Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport on July 14.

"We welcome PEOPLExpress to the Palm Beaches, and look forward to serving their passengers," Bruce Pelly, Palm Beach County Department of Airports director, said Friday. "Adding access to Newport News and their surrounding areas gives our customers another option to fly into that region as well."

The flight is set to operate daily except Tuesdays, a PBIA spokeswoman said.

Late last month the budget carrier announced plans to inaugurate operations June 30 with daily service between Newport News and Boston, Newark and Pittsburgh. It also plans to add service to Atlanta on Aug. 1 and to St. Petersburg and New Orleans on Aug. 28.

PEOPLExpress — which is attempting a revival of a popular American low-cost airline of the 1980s with the same name — will initially use another airline to kick off scheduled service.

"At some point in the future, we anticipate that PEOPLExpress will be [certified] as an independent airline,'' CEO Jeff Erickson said Friday in a statement. "In the meantime, Vision Airlines, doing business as PEOPLExpress, will operate this service using Boeing 737-400 aircraft. We look forward to arriving in West Palm Beach."

The Vision aircraft — which accommodates 150 passengers — will sport a revamped green-colored logo of the former PEOPLExpress, company officials said.

Las Vegas-based Vision is no stranger to South Florida. It previously operated scheduled flights from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International to Freeport, Bahamas, Louisville, Ky. and Fort Walton Beach before it ended service there in April 2012 after a year of operations. In early 2011 it also ceased scheduled and charter operations from Miami.

"Add-on fees let customers decide what they want to pay for. While this is common in the industry, our difference will be in the level of service we provide and can-do attitude from check-in to arrival," Erickson said. "It's the service and level of personal attention that makes a difference."